La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 61-51 to UW-Platteville Thursday night in the semifinals of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships (Presented by Culver's). The Eagles drop to 17-9 overall while the Pioneers improve to 17-10 and will host UW-Stevens Point in the tournament championship game Saturday, February 23 at 5 p.m.
UWL, receiving votes on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, will await word if it receives an at-large bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships. The 64-team field will be announced Monday, February 25 at 11:30 a.m. The first and second rounds of the championships are scheduled for Friday-Saturday, March 1-2.
It is UW-Platteville fourth win in five meetings with UWL in the WIAC Championships.
Taulvish McCray finished with nine points.
UWL took its largest lead of the game at 20-15 with 6:29 left in the first half on a
Taulvish McCray jumper, but UW-Platteville used a 13-3 run for a 28-23 lead with 2:37 remaining after Quentin Shields' three-pointer. The Eagles cut the halftime deficit to 28-27 on jumpers from McCray and
Brendon Manning.
Manning's three-pointer with 13:58 left gave UWL a 36-35 advantage, but Robert Duax's three-pointer provided UW-Platteville with a 38-36 lead with 13:35 remaining. The Pioneers would not trail the rest of the game. UW-Platteville took a 45-38 lead with 10:52 remaining before UWL cut the lead to 45-43 on a Manning jumper. The Pioneers responded with a 7-0 run to lead 52-43 and the Eagles could get no closer than six points the rest of the way.
UWL shot 39.3% from the field Thursday, including 23.5% (four-of-17) from three-point range, and 60.0% (three-of-five) at the free throw line. Manning led the Eagles with 16 points while McCray totaled nine and
Sam Burkart seven.
Tanner Bruchs had a team-high seven rebounds. UWL shot 33.3% (10-of-30) from the field in the second half, including 12.5% (one-of-eight) from three-point range.
UW-Platteville shot 34.6% from the field, including 37.5% (nine-of-24) from three-point range, and 76.2% (16-of-21) at the line. Duax led four Pioneers in double figures with 16 points while Shields finished with 15, Alex Ranney with 11 and Clay Gerds with 10. Gerds recorded a game-high 10 rebounds. UW-Platteville shot 73.3% (11-of-15) at the line in the second half.
